1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a head-protecting airbag apparatus including an airbag that is mountable on an upper periphery of a vehicle window in a folded-up configuration and deployable downward for covering an inboard side of the window when fed with an inflation gas.
2. Description of Related Art
JP2010-36805 discloses a head-protecting airbag apparatus including an airbag that is provided with a shielding section for covering an inboard side of a window in order to hold a vehicle occupant inboard and protect him/her during a rollover event of a vehicle possibly occurring after a side impact. The shielding section includes an extended lower end that can reach up to below a beltline of a vehicle at airbag deployment and the lower end includes either on the inboard side or outboard side a reinforcing inflatable portion that is inflatable in a rod shape extending along a front and rear direction.
That is, the shielding section of this configuration has a wide area due to the lower end reachable up to below the beltline for improving a head restraint performance during a rollover event, and therefore, there is a room for improvement in reducing a volume of the shielding section.
JP2004-142530, JP2006-193151, JP2007-69721, JP2009-286300 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,830,262 disclose head-protecting airbag apparatuses as well. The apparatuses respectively include an airbag provided with an auxiliary inflatable portion on an outboard side of an upper end of its inflatable shielding section.
However, the auxiliary inflatable portions of these known head-protecting airbag apparatuses are provided for assisting the inflatable shielding sections to override a pillar protruding inward more than surrounding windows, and to this end, the auxiliary inflatable portions are designed to inflate prior to the inflatable shielding sections. A rollover event possibly occurring after a side impact is not taken into consideration in these references.